The Chase 's Anne Hegerty has sparked a fresh gender pay gap row by insisting that women who take time off work to care for their children should be paid less.

The 59-year-old, who is nicknamed The Governess on the ITV1 show - said that she personally isn't 'bothered' about whether men are paid more than women over all.

But what she does want to see is people paid for the hours they actually work.

"It's to do with whether or not you have kids and whether you take time off to look after them," she told The Sun when asked about men being paid more than women.

"You're not doing the same job if you're not putting in the same hours, so I rather hope she is only getting two or three fifths of what the men get because she isn't putting in the hours," she continued.

Bradley Walsh and The Governess, Anne Hegerty (Image: ITV)

Anne, who hosts new game show Britain's Brightest Family, has no children of her own.

Insisting she 'dodged a bullet' by not having a family, she argued that children are not only 'chaotic' but also incredibly expensive.

"You don't miss what you haven't had and I just think I love the peace and quiet of my life. I would like more of it," she added.

Anne believes that women who take time off to look after their children should be paid less than men (Image: ITV)

The star believes she 'dodged a bullet' by not having kids of her own (Image: Rex Features)

The gender pay gap row was first sparked when the BBC published the salaries of its top earners last July.

Chris Evans topped the list with £2.2million, while the highest-earning female was Strictly host Claudia Winkleman with a salary of between £450,000 and £500,000.

Chris Evans was the Beeb's top earner (Image: PA)

Claudia Winkleman earns just a quarter of his salary (Image: Getty)

A subsequent report found that men at the BBC were earning an average of 9.3 per cent more than women.